Bacteria and viruses — indicators of environmental changes occurring in estuaries

Microorganisms are useful indicators of alterations in the natural environment. As presently employed, however, “indicator organisms” such as fecal coliforms and total coliforms have severe limitations. Other organisms have been proposed in recent years as potential indicator organisms, viz. Streptococci, Clostridia, and pseudomonads. The indicator organism concept is reviewed and recommendations for future studies are made. In particular, detection, isolation, and identification of viruses, effects of pollutants on the natural microbial flora, and reevaluation of microbial indicators are critical areas requiring research.     

Do environmental management systems improve environmental performance? Empirical evidence from Italian companies

This paper reports the results of a research carried out on environmental performance in companies with an environmental management system registered under the EMAS regulation. By applying an empirical approach, the article analyses the trend of the environmental performance of a sample of 64 Italian companies pertaining to 6 different industrial sectors, which have achieved EMAS registration for at least three years. The trends of the environmental indicators included in the environmental statements, officially validated by a third party and traceable to a period of time before and after the registration, were collected and evaluated. In particular, the influence of the EMAS registration on the improvement or the worsening of the environmental performance was analyzed and thus the ability of this instrument to pursue continuous improvement, a founding principle of environmental management certification schemes. Data obtained indicate that in some cases, EMAS leads to an actual improvement of environmental performance, even in the short period.     

Modeling the predictors of consumers’ online purchase intention of green products: the role of personal innovativeness and environmental drive

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Our society faces mounting pressure regarding the necessity of green consumption as issues related to the environment will likely become a severe...     

Thailand’s economic growth and structural development projections in the context of environmental control

Projections for 20 years of economic growth and change in the structure of the Thai economy were made for 180 sectors using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to compare the following four scenarios: (1) standard growth with infinite supply of factors, (2) finite land supply, (3) fixed use of agricultural chemicals, and (4) combined finite land supply with fixed use of agricultural chemicals. The computable projections suggest that the economic cost of hypothetical environmental control in agriculture is small and further weakened by urbanization. The computed structural development points to efficiency improvements specific to sectors to return the economy to balanced growth.     

Does haze pollution affect public health in China from the perspective of environmental efficiency?

Environment, Development and Sustainability - This study attempts to introduce haze pollution into the environmental efficiency evaluation framework and measures PM2.5 environmental efficiency in...     

Beyond the environmental Kuznets curve: Do combined impacts of air transport and rail transport matter for environmental sustainability amidst energy use in E7 economies?

Environment, Development and Sustainability - This study is motivated by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDG-7,8,11,12 and 13) on the need for clean and responsible energy...     

The flow/fund model of Conga: exploring the anatomy of environmental conflicts at the Andes–Amazon commodity frontier

This paper aims to contribute toward improved understanding of complex ecological distribution conflicts at the commodity frontiers, where increasing metabolism in industrial societies is leading to increased environmental destruction in resource-rich countries throughout the world. The focus of this paper is the Conga gold mine project in northern Peru, where there have been violent clashes between the Minera Yanacocha mining company and the local population, represented mainly by campesinos that live in the highlands of the Andes–Amazon region. We do this by using the flow/fund model developed by Georgescu-Roegen and extended by Giampietro and Mayumi, to help us trace the anatomy of this conflict, using simplified representations of the central economic processes involved: gold mining and milk production. By complementing the concept of Ricardian land—an indestructible fund—with the concept of land materials, which is susceptible to qualitative change, and therefore can be either a fund or a flow element of the economic process, we illustrate that the gold extraction process, which treats this land material as a flow, stands in conflict with the milk production process, at least in part, because that process is using these land materials as a fund, i.e., in order to make production possible. The paper employs the concept of environmental valuation triadics, developed by Farrell, in order to explore how the boundaries—physical frontiers and temporal durations—of a specified economic process are related to flow/fund element identities. We conclude with some reflections on potential future applications for the methods employed and on the implications of our analytical results.     

Correlates of women’s environmental behaviors: a study in Pawe Woreda,Northwest Ethiopia

Available cross-country, macro-level evidence regarding gender differences in environmental behaviors shows women are more environmentally concerned and responsive than men. However, while such macro-level evidence helps understand patterns of women’s environmental behaviors at a much broader level, it does not allow deeper insights into particular patterns at a single location or in much smaller areas. Tailor-made interventions needed to address livelihood and environmental strategies of poor rural women become meaningful if studies aim at revealing context specific, local variations in women’s environmental behaviors. In this context, there is only little research for Ethiopia regarding what influences women’s response to environmental problems. The objective of this research was to describe women’s response to environmental problems in Pawe Woreda and examine the demographic, socioeconomic, and institutional correlates of this response, with particular emphasis to forest resources. Data were primarily obtained from a sample of 363 households in a multi-stage sample survey and were analyzed mainly using a multivariate logistic regression model. We found that all except one of the demographic and socioeconomic variables included in the model were found to be statistically significant correlates of woman’s environmental response, but the institutional variable was not significantly associated with a woman’s environmental response. However, the qualitative result for additional institutional issues revealed the importance of land tenure. Many of the results are in line with the existing literature.     

The environmental attitude of the urban population living in Macapá City,Brazilian Amazon region

Environment, Development and Sustainability - The human pressure on nature makes it imperative understanding how environmental issues can influence the world view of society. The aim of the current...     

Technical efficiency of Kenya’s smallholder food crop farmers: do environmental factors matter?

Smallholder agriculture dominates Kenya’s agricultural landscape, accounting for 75 % of total agricultural output and 70 % of the marketed agricultural produce. As a result, the Government of Kenya, with the support of development partners, has invested in production and dissemination of productivity-enhancing technologies such as high-yielding varieties and inorganic fertilizers targeting the smallholders. Adoption of these technologies has remarkably improved, especially in the maize sub-sector. However, productivity has been declining or, at best, stagnating. Productivity is attributable to not only technological improvements but also technical efficiency. Consequently, this study sought to determine the technical efficiency of the country’s smallholder food crop farmers and establish how it correlates with environmental factors. The study used a two-stage nonparametric approach on household panel data to estimate the efficiency levels of the smallholders and establish the sources of its variation across households. Controlling for endogeneity and incorporating geographic information system-derived measures of environmental factors in the analysis, the study finds that technical efficiency differentials are influenced by environmental factors, production risks and farmer characteristics. The policy implication is that the country has room to improve agricultural productivity by addressing environmental and farm-level constraints. Viable options include switching from rain-fed to irrigated agriculture, entrenching land tenure security, improving transport network among farm communities and setting up smallholder credit schemes.     

Effect of working time on environmental pressures: empirical evidence from EU-15, 1970–2010

There is growing interest in the correlation between working time and environmental pressures, but prior empirical studies mostly focused on static methodologies. This article used dynamic panel regression approaches to examine and compare the relationship among western, southern, and northern European countries over the period 1970–2010, and proved the existence of strongly significant relationships in all models. Furthermore, this article detected the relationship between working hours and environmental indicators (carbon emission and energy use) at different phases. We contribute to a further understanding of the environmental effects of the working time reduction policy by comparing the differences among various periods and country groups in a system generalized method of moments (GMM) dynamic framework.     

Chinese hydropower companies and environmental norms in countries of the global South: the involvement of Sinohydro in Ghana’s Bui Dam

The paper examines the role of environmental norms in Chinese overseas investment in hydropower dams, exemplified by Sinohydro’s involvement in the Bui Dam in Ghana. While the investment of Western companies in hydropower dams in the global South is decreasing owing to changing notions of sustainability in the West, the investment of Chinese companies in hydro dams in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America is accelerating at great speed. The emergence of Chinese companies in international markets in the context of China’s Going Abroad strategy has sparked a debate on whether China can be considered a norm-changer in international development. The paper considers this question in the context of the status of environmental norms in Sinohydro’s investment in Ghana’s Bui Dam. The paper argues that the role of international norms in Chinese investment is dependent on two factors: the contractual arrangements under which Chinese companies operate abroad and the political institutions of host countries.     

An integrated approach for the benchmarking of production facilities’ environmental performance: data envelopment analysis and life cycle assessment

Environmental impacts have become an important consideration in the manufacturing industry due to increasing public pressure for environment protection and the requirements of recently launched legislations. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a widely adopted methodological approach for the benchmarking of the relative efficiency of different production units. Changes in production efficiency may affect environmental impacts. DEA can be used for identifying the most efficient production facility and hence, the environmental impacts generated from the different production lines can then be benchmarked. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is carried out to quantify the full environmental impacts of a product from ‘cradle to grave’. The integration of LCA with DEA, efficiency and environmental impact of different production processes for a certain family of products can be evaluated and benchmarked. The proposed two-stage approach can help to reduce the aggregate environmental impacts of the manufacturing phase and is used to benchmark the environmental performance of several production lines in a manufacturing company.     

Fishers’ perceptions of climate change,impacts on their livelihoods and adaptation strategies in environmental change hotspots: a case of Lake Wamala,Uganda

Fisheries resources support livelihoods of fishing communities but are threatened by over-exploitation, habitat degradation, pollution, invasive species and climate change. Unlike the other threats, climate change has received limited consideration and reducing its risks requires appropriate adaptation strategies. This study used quantitative and qualitative methods to generate knowledge on fishers’ perceptions of climate change, changes in climate variables and their impacts on livelihoods, adaptation strategies, constraints to adaptation and required interventions to promote adaptation strategies that would enable fishers to build resilience to sustain their livelihoods. We found that fishers were aware of changes in climate conditions manifested by unpredictable seasons, floods and droughts. Fishing remained the main livelihood activity. However, the dominance of fishes had changed from Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus L.) to the African catfish (Clarias gariepinus Burchell). Floods and droughts were associated with damage to gears, boats, landing sites and changes in fish catches and sizes, income from fishing and fish consumption. The fishers adapted by increasing time on fishing grounds and changing target species and fishing gear among other things. Some innovative fishers diversified to high-value crops and livestock. This increased their income beyond what was solely earned from fishing which provided an incentive for some of them to quit fishing. Livelihood diversification was enhanced by use of communications technology, membership of social groups, increasing fishing days and fishing experience. Adaptation was, however, constrained by limited credit, awareness and access to land, which require interventions such as improving access to credit, irrigation facilities, appropriate planting materials and awareness raising. We identified adaptation strategies, which if promoted and their constraints addressed, could increase resilience of fishers to the influence of climate change and sustain their livelihoods.     

Plant community tolerant to trace elements growing on the degraded soils of São Domingos mine in the south east of Portugal: environmental implications

The selection of trace element tolerant species is a key factor to the success of remediation of degraded mine soils. Mining activities generate a large amount of waste rocks and tailings, which get deposited at the surface. The degraded soils, the waste rocks and tailings are often very unstable and will become sources of pollution. The direct effects will be the loss of cultivated land, forest or grazing land, and the overall loss of production. The indirect effects will include air and water pollution and siltation of rivers. These will eventually lead to the loss of biodiversity, amenity and economic wealth. Restoration of a vegetation cover can fulfil the objectives of stabilization, pollution control, visual improvement and removal of threats to human beings. Thus, remediation of mine spoils/tailings and biogeochemical prospecting would rely on the appropriate selection of plant species. Plant community responds differently on their ability to uptake or exclude a variety of metals. In this work, plant species were sampled from all populations established in an abandoned copper mine of S?o Domingos, SE Portugal. Plants belonging to 24 species, 16 genera and 13 families were collected from the degraded copper mine of S?o Domingos. Plant samples were analysed for total Ag, As, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn. The highest concentrations of metals in soils dry matter were 11217.5 mg Pb kg(-1), 1829 mg Cu kg(-1), 1291 mg As kg(-1), 713.7 mg Zn kg(-1), 84.6 mg Cr kg(-1), 54.3 mg Co kg(-1), 52.9 mg Ni kg(-1) and 16.6 mg Ag kg(-1). With respect to plants, the higher concentrations of Pb and As were recorded in the semi-aquatic species Juncus conglomeratus with 84.8 and 23.5 mg kg(-1) dry weight (DW), Juncus efusus with 22.4 and 8.5 mg kg(-1) DW, and Scirpus holoschoenus with 51.7 and 8.0 mg kg(-1) DW, respectively. Thymus mastichina also showed high content of As in the aboveground parts, 13.6 mg kg(-1) DW. Overall, the results indicate accumulation of various metals by different plant species, with some of these metals being partitioned to the shoots. Environmental implications of these observations are discussed.     

Population dynamics,delta vulnerability and environmental change: comparison of the Mekong,Ganges–Brahmaputra and Amazon delta regions

Tropical delta regions are at risk of multiple threats including relative sea level rise and human alterations, making them more and more vulnerable to extreme floods, storms, surges, salinity intrusion, and other hazards which could also increase in magnitude and frequency with a changing climate. Given the environmental vulnerability of tropical deltas, understanding the interlinkages between population dynamics and environmental change in these regions is crucial for ensuring efficient policy planning and progress toward social and ecological sustainability. Here, we provide an overview of population trends and dynamics in the Ganges–Brahmaputra, Mekong and Amazon deltas. Using multiple data sources, including census data and Demographic and Health Surveys, a discussion regarding the components of population change is undertaken in the context of environmental factors affecting the demographic landscape of the three delta regions. We find that the demographic trends in all cases are broadly reflective of national trends, although important differences exist within and across the study areas. Moreover, all three delta regions have been experiencing shifts in population structures resulting in aging populations, the latter being most rapid in the Mekong delta. The environmental impacts on the different components of population change are important, and more extensive research is required to effectively quantify the underlying relationships. The paper concludes by discussing selected policy implications in the context of sustainable development of delta regions and beyond.     

Greenwashed sports and environmental activism: Formula 1 and FIFA†

ABSTRACT

Formula 1 motor sport and the Men's World Cup of association football, two major sporting events on our calendars, are indirectly and directly responsible for environmental despoliation. They serve as advertisements for heavy industry, are designed for elite as much as mass consumption, and provide sponsors with dubious social licenses to operate. This occurs through the very mechanisms of the events themselves (engines in Formula 1, tourism in the World Cup) as well as their promotional externalities. I look at greenwashing claims made about these two sporting events and examine counter-discourses, then investigate economic and ecological citizenship. I suggest that a progressive agenda can be forwarded if Greenpeace, which runs campaigns related to these sports, works with its fellow elites, in the case of Formula 1, and with fans in the case of football. Doing so may be more effective than business-as-usual direct action.